1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to Internet-related communications and, more particularly, to a system and method for managing a client-side, or virtual Internet radio station.
2. Description of the Related Art
As noted in US publication 2002/0157034, Internet Radio involves streaming data content from a server over the Internet to a listener. Sometimes, data may be downloaded in advance to a listener cache for faster playback later. However, since the term “Internet radio” is commonly used in the art, it will be used here as well. Typically, the content for the Internet radio station will include voice and music.
Real-time streaming of content is effected by programs such as RealAudio™, produced by RealNetworks, Inc. Other Internet Radio services include Radio@AOL and Radio@Netscape. RealOne player supports a variety of free and superpass radio channels. Windows Media player has a Radio tuner, which permits a user to “tune” into number of radio stations.
This streaming is usually of highly compressed data content, to allow the audio to be received over dial-up connections in the consumer's home. The dial-up is typically less than 56 kbit/s bandwidth, which means a very high compression ratio is required compared to the “original” CD source material (44.1 ksample/s ×16 bits/sample ×2 channels). Higher bitrate streams can be sent from the Internet Radio, for example, if a broadband network connection is used by the consumer.
Internet “radio stations” differ from traditional “broadcast” stations, as the Internet-based station is not sent out as a broadcast stream. This means that each person who connects to the station, connects to a unique socket and is delivered an independent “stream”, over UDP (User datagram protocol), TCP (transport control protocol), or RTP (real-time transport protocol). Consequentially, the load on the server increases in proportion to the number of listeners who are accessing the station.
The client devices that receive Internet radio services, for presentation to the user, typically have a great deal of processing power and memory. Yet these clients present the Internet radio stations with no greater user control options than a conventional AM/FM radio.
It would be advantageous if a user had greater control over the content presented by Internet radio services.
It would be advantageous if a user could select from the content provided by the above-mentioned Internet radio stations to create their own virtual radio station.